TANKS: Ready to take care of all your pet needs

Chad Miller and Heath Farrell are holding some of the pets they have available at Total Aquariums Needs Keeping Services (TANKS) Coral Emporium and Pet Supply Headquarters in the former Princeton Variety Store on South Main Street.

PRINCETON — A store selling pets and assorted supplies has opened in Princeton.

Princeton residents Heath Farrell and Chad Miller are operating Total Aquariums Needs Keeping Services (TANKS) Coral Emporium and Pet Supply Headquarters in the former Princeton Variety Store on South Main Street.

“We will have supplies for everything, and if we don’t have it, we can get it,” said Farrell, the owner. “We will have fresh- and salt-water fish. We will also have birds, reptiles, snakes, lizards, turtles, etc. We will have a small amount of larger animals like rabbits, ferrets, rats, mice, guinea pigs and gerbils.

“We want to have the more exotic stuff, but you have to find the right people to get healthy and tame animals,” added Farrell, who is getting out of the trucking business after 17 years to operate this pet store with Miller. “My mom breeds some parakeets and tames them, so she can feed them out of her hand.”

Farrell said he lost thousands of dollars worth of fish when he went on his honeymoon, since the person who was taking care of his aquarium didn’t know what he was doing.

“Since we both live in town, we can get stuff out during emergencies and bring it here to the store,” he added.

“We will also do pond maintenance and hope to increase this in the spring. We have done some in the summer and late fall,” he said. “We want to deliver dog and pet food to our customers like (those) in the high rise.”

They just met each other last fall after Farrell’sbrother, Jarred, introduced the men. Miller was talking to Jarred Farrell, his chiropractor, about his interest in fish tanks, and Jarred introduced Miller to his brother, who had a similar interest.

“We have since discovered we know many of the same people, but never met until last fall,” added Farrell. Miller, a 1994 graduate of Princeton High School, started out in fresh-water aquariums and changed to salt-water ones several years ago. Farrell is a 1997 graduate of Princeton High School.

“We started out in the setup and maintenance of salt-water aquariums in February,” said Farrell, the owner. “We were working out of Eddie’s Pet Shop in Peru and got to the point that the extra running was a hassle.”

Farrell and Miller have customers from Kewanee to Ottawa, some being businesses while others are in homes.

“Chad and I wanted to do this and decided this was the next step,” he added. “We weren’t planning on a place this big, but we met with Tom Kloster (the building owner), and he made us a good deal on this place.”

Hours will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. The store’s phone number is 815-915-8442.

The men will also have a community bulletin board for their customers to advertise selling or giving away their pets or other items.